Anwar’s Madani government has fallen into self-destruct mode. Over
the last eleven months, the realties of Anwar and his government’s
performance has become very evident, where even the staunchest
supporters are becoming more disappointed. The hopes of promised reforms have been replaced with disillusionment.
The
stability of the Madani government is not as sound as it appears on
paper. Technically, Anwar’s government has a two-thirds majority in the
Dewan Rakyat. However, the reality would be very different, if any
contentious legislation was put to the vote.
Pakatan Harapan (PH)
gained 82 seats in the last general election in the federal parliament.
This was 30 seats short of a majority. With the support of Barisan
Nasional, PH-BN had 112 seats, and could form a government. When
Sarawak’s GPS joined the coalition, this added another 23 seats and a
comfortable working majority. With more support from Sabah based
parties, the coalition became known as the ‘unity government’. The
current Agong lent his support to this coalition, which swayed the
Borneo parties in.
Cracks in the ‘unity government’
However, the events of the last week have publicly exposed some internal cracks within the ‘unity government’. The
Sarawak government bulked at two decisions made by Anwar’s
administration. The first was the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the language
of government, and the second was the proclamation of a Palestine
Solidarity Week to be held in schools across the country.
These
were rejected by the Sarawak State Government, which is the first time
the state government had publicly rejected federal edicts. This
indicates that Anwar didn’t consult with the Sarawak State Government
beforehand, and was insensitive to the thoughts and ideas of a major
coalition partner. This also shows that GPS with its 23 seats in the
Dewan Rakyat may not give rock solid support to the Anwar administration
upon issues it doesn’t agree with.
Secondly, the DAP leader
Anthony Loke made a public statement over the Palestine Solidarity Week
issue. Loke admitted this was discussed in cabinet and appears to have
broken cabinet solidarity. This is a major rebuke to the prime minister
in a Westminster system, which would normally see the resignation of
those who break cabinet solidarity.
In addition, 12 state and
federal MPs in Anwar’s own Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) also spoke out
against the Palestinian Solidarity Week. This is reflective upon a
bigger dissatisfaction within the party over the direction Anwar is
taking the government. Anwar has made a cardinal mistake in
intra-coalition politics – NEVER MAKE DECISIONS COALITION PARTNERS WILL
NOT AGREE WITH. This will lead to future disputes in public as a
precedent has been set.
